SEE YOU NEXT PERIOD…

In GRAHAMSVILLE, N.Y., paranoia about students hiding firearms or WMD’s in backpacks and purses led to a rule that girls could not carry purses in school unless they were having their period. Naturally this resulted in security guards asking girls with purses if they were indeed menstruating.

As might have been expected, this question was not well received. No incidents of girls being asked for proof have been reported, but the inquisitions themselves have inspired protests in which students, including boys, have tied tampons to their clothing. One unknown student wearing only a bag over his head ran down the hallway. Perhaps the marching band should make ‘Alexander’s Ragtime Band’ their theme song.

One might hope that the educators of Grahamsville will re-write the rules, and refrain from bringing in menstrual-sniffing dogs or mandating tampons with RFID chips…but the story will live on, written in red, and be remembered forever, as it should be. It is a story not without humor, yet invasion of privacy of any kind is not funny. It shows what can happen when the man in the White House chooses to foment fear for political gain. And, it shows what can happen when we accept that fear.